Dispatch & Pics: Anonymous Rallies for Aaron Swartz in Boston, Declares War on Department of Justice

When
it comes to winter demonstrations in New England, it takes a just
cause or pure outrage to turn people out in arctic weather. That goes
for rabble-rousing protesters, as well as for media folk who often
lean on web searches and phone calls when the climate dips. The case
of internet impresario and political target Aaron Swartz, whose suicide
two weeks ago sparked much outrage and sadness among his friends and
admirers, meets both criteria – people are extremely pissed about
his plight, and they're determined to channel his tragic passing into
a teaching moment. As such, about 40 allies showed up at the Moakley
federal courthouse in Boston yesterday, along with a few local news
outlets that weren't busy covering the frightful Super Bowl chicken
wing shortage.

The
Boston rally in memory of Swartz – planned by members of Anonymous,
but hardly an exclusive event – was both glum and enlightening. People
who knew Swartz personally, as well as many who just knew of
him, welled up as they spoke praise. Typically, news-ready
scenes outside of the Moakley are cheap at best and super sleazy;
take, for example, the waterfront frenzy every time that former House
Speaker Sal DiMasi faced flames for selling out constituents for free
golf, or when King Dirtbag Whitey Bulger arrives in shackles to delay
his inevitable life sentence. But this was different – this was
uniquely emotional; unlike in the Bulger ordeal, the friends and
family of the victims in this case – everyone with a connection to
or affection for Swartz – haven't already had decades to grieve.

The
first curbside speech, like the dozen or so that came after, noted
the heroic accomplishments that Swartz will be enshrined for, from scientific feats like his role in the development of RSS, to his
political victories in fighting anti-democratic measures like the
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). There was also much mention of his
lack of financial motivation in perpetrating his alleged crimes; a
flier circulating at the protest deemed his decisions in that matter
to be genuine and honorable. It read: “Aaron Swartz believed that
the internet should be an uncensored, open space, where information
should be shared by all. He believed that the wealth of human
knowledge rightly belonged in the hands of the public.”

In
memoriam of Swartz, before marching down Atlantic Ave and through
Faneuil Hall, rally-goers took turns at the bullhorn, issuing
everything from carnal rants to solid points. One tearful observer
juxtaposed the Swartz situation with kiddie pornographers who catch
mere misdemeanors: “You get more time for messing with computers,”
she said, “than you do for messing with children.” There was also
a reading of his guiding Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, and other
speeches given in the “grand tradition of civil disobedience”
that Swartz called for in the 2008 mission statement, which
foreshadowed the actions that would later land him in the clutches of
opportunistic and technologically ignorant prosecutors like Carmen
Ortiz, who we now know pursued him for malicious and political
purposes.

Though
Anonymous has been more or less ignored by the mainstream media –
and by all of the hack stenographers who piggyback their contrived
storylines – for more than a year now, trolls and hackers who claim
affiliation with the group have been perpetually active since marquee
moments like their WikiLeaks defense, and their role in the Arab
Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements. Now, though, the more public
face of Anonymous – often covered in a Guy Fawkes mask – has
seemingly returned, along with a new series of headline-grabbing
tactics. Earlier today, hackers claiming the cloak of Anonymous declared
war against the federal justice department (video below), fucked the site for the U.S.
Sentencing Commission (USSC.gov), and promised to continue the ruses
until something gets done about the ill proliferation of predatory plea
offers and taxpayer-funded persecutions, the likes of which led
Swartz to suicide. Not like Anons at the Boston rally didn't warn
them; “Carmen Ortiz and the Department of Justice,” said one of
the final speakers, “you should have expected us.”